The Heir of Sound Country
by Anaxn
Summary: Sakura's father is dead, the father she never wanted to have, the one she hated and loved. But now she is left with his responsibility: Rule Sound Country in Orochimaru, her father's place. A theory I share with KHwhitelion. She writes good stories.


Sakura almost tore her hair out; the pain would have been better than what she was feeling now. Hot trails ran down her face but she didn't care as its travelers hit the overturned, fresh ground. A vague wind rustled her now black hair, the genjutsu she wore constantly in Konoha now released. All of the top Sound commanders were gathered around her and the grave, none really quite sure of what to do with the girl now on their hands. Kabuto was not among them, Sakura had noticed, but she had noticed that before she saw the grave marked with her father's name. Now she wept openly, tears magnifying the purple tattoos on her face, just like the ones of her dearly departed father, Orochimaru.

They had summoned her to Sound Country about a day ago and she had gone under the guise of visiting family members, which was half true. It had taken her all day to get there and when she did, she changed into her Otogakure outfit, a brown dress much like the one she had in her genin years, before they brought her here. This dress, however, was adorned by a large purple snake making its way up her body, the sign that she had conquered Manda. But even the thought of the technique, taught to her by her father at a very young age, made her relapse into mournful sobbing that robbed her lungs of air. Her hands dug into the dirt, the grime getting under her fingernails as she stared with blurry eyes at the tombstone in front of her. Shaking her head, Sakura took huge gulping breaths, swallowing hard to keep the air in her lungs as she tried to regain her composure. Focused on breathing deeply, she rose, hands writhing like snakes in front of her.

"Are you okay, Sakura-sama?" Asked one of the commanding officers, bowing a little and offering her hand for support.  
"I'm fine." She replied, drying her tears on the collar of her dress. She steeled herself, putting up a ruling manner to show the shinobi who was in charge.  
"So what's the plan for Sound country?" Sakura asked, looking around at the faces with her snake-like eyes, which only served to remind them of their old ruler. One of the men on her left, the shinobi training supervisor according to his nametag, addressed her first.  
"We lost quite a few shinobi in the invasion a few years ago. Our forces are rebuilding, but we are not ready for another encounter." A woman on her right side spoke up, gaining the courage to speak to the daughter of the one who so terrified them regularly.  
"Our resources are carefully rationed, although we have plenty to use." Sakura listened to each of the commanders in turn, absorbing the information about her country and subconsciously deciding what to do about some of the problems. But overall there was a sort of gloom that hung over them, a resignation that Orochimaru's daughter could not understand. After another 15 minutes of briefing and more empty morose faces, she finally became annoyed enough to break her own melancholy.  
"Why is everyone so depressed?" She asked pointedly, switching her gaze from one set of officers to another. They shifted from foot to foot, staring at the ground in almost shame? Sakura couldn't understand why. Orochimaru had terrified everyone of his serving officers; they should be rejoicing in his death, however rude it would be. Even if they had been devoted to Orochimaru, this depressive cloud seemed too large and too sad to be caused simply by his death. Finally a sad murmur began in the back of the crowd and a few of them parted to let a minor officer step to the front, a defeated look on his face.

"Sound country has fallen." He lamented, his eyes staring blankly ahead.  
"Orochimaru is dead. Sooner or later, Konoha or Suna will notice and we will be overrun, our village burned, our people slaughtered." Sakura stood stock-still. The village of her birth bursting into flames, people screaming, vivid thoughts and blood flooding her head and filling it up… Horror rose in her body and the adrenaline of a possible catastrophe began rushing through her blood, reddening her sight. Her left shoulder began to burn, the heaven curse mark given by Orochimaru himself raging at the possibility of the village made by her father being destroyed. Sakura submitted willingly to it, feeding it her chakra, which felt as though it was being sucked forcefully from her body. The curse mark quickly spread over her body, blackish flames flaring over her face and burning its way down her arms. Several officers stepped back, eyes widening as they watched what might as well be Orochimaru himself.  
"We'll all be put to death, our history will be erased…" Black flames had now covered her body and they connected, turning from black to a pale sickly white. The impression of scales covered her body, some breaking out over her skin. This was too much for her, she thought, burying her hands in her hair and tugging. First her father's death, his village now being her responsibility, and now this prediction of doom. It was all too likely though. Without a leader, Sound Country with its small size would be easy to overrun. They needed a leader, and they needed one now.

"Our homes ransacked, our children…"  
"Shut up." A growl came from the scaled female in the center of the crowd. Her hair began writhing under her touch and she let go, feeling her scalp crawl. Her left arm itching where the old tattoo was, her head covered in a swarming mass of snakes: her instincts were governing her now. Using her canines, which seemed unusually sharp, she bit her thumb, drawing the blood down her forearm.  
"left out in the cold…"  
"I said SHUT UP!" Sakura roared, snakes spiraling from her arm into the face of the lamenting officer. With one latched onto his shoulder, Sakura could see only his wide eyes from behind the snake latched onto his face. His eyes rolled back into his head and with a moan, he hit the ground. Still baring her teeth, the girl glared at the body from beneath a few snakes hissing where her bangs should be. Challenging the other officers with her snake-like glare, she roared at them,  
"I am Orochimaru's daughter! Nothing has changed! And Sound Country will not fall!"


End file.
